Traditions
by HeadlessHuntsman
Summary: This was written for ThoughtBubbler98's Christmas Prompt challenge. My word was Bows. It is a small glimpse into the life of Harry and Ginny at Christmas.


**A/N: This story was written for ThoughtBubbler98's Christmas prompt. My word was Bows. This story fits in to my world just like all my other one shots. **

**This story takes place after the war Harry and Ginny are a couple but not yet married.**

"Harry, are you here?" Ginny called out to the darkened flat as she unlocked the backdoor. "I stopped and got take away curry." She said, while placing the take away bags she was carrying on the kitchen counter. 'Maybe he fell asleep.' She thought to herself, while checking the small bedroom. He wasn't there. She dropped her green and gold equipment bag, from her shoulder, onto the bed and left the room. As she closed the door to the bedroom, she saw him standing in the living room, staring at the Christmas tree set up by the large front window. Harry and Ginny had spent the previous weekend setting up and decorating the tree.

They were lucky, it was four days till Christmas and for once Harry's duty and Ginny's Quidditch schedule had synched up and they both had seven days off. Ginny was going to spend most of the holiday with Harry. They had planned to spend most of Christmas day at The Burrow, other than that they had no plans. Ginny looked forward to just being with Harry.

Ginny observed Harry from the doorway for a few minutes. "Uh oh,' she thought. 'I know that look. That's the look he gets when he is dwelling on the past.' It wasn't easy being with Harry. He was without a doubt the strongest person Ginny had ever seen. At the same time, he was the most fragile. She had seen times when a stray word or memory would send him spiraling into despair.

"Harry?" She said. "Hello?" Harry started when she put her arm around his waist

"Wha… Oh Gin! Hi." Harry said, "I didn't hear you come in." He said absently looking back to the tree. The tree wasn't very large but rather the perfect size for the flat. It was trimmed in blue and silver bows with charmed crystal lights that twinkled with different colors. The top of the tree had a large crystal star that caught the light as it turned on its own.

"What's wrong?" Ginny approached the subject carefully.

"It's nothing," Harry answered.

Ginny took his hand with one hand and used the other to guide Harry to the couch. "Harry, I know you and I know that look," Ginny said while stroking his hand. "And while the problem may not be earth shatteringly important, and some may consider it to be silly I know it is never "nothing"."

"I was just thinking, this is the first tree I've ever had." Harry said, running his free hand through his hair messing it up. "The Dursleys never let me in the same room as their tree and during Hogwarts I was usually too busy staying alive to care." Ginny's heart broke thinking of that small lost boy alone, abused and stuffed into a cupboard, forgotten. Ginny stroked his messy black hair out of his eyes. She could see the loss and pain reflected in the green. Though it was less than in the past Harry still struggled with the perdition of his memories. 'Who could blame him?' Ginny thought. 'Especially when you consider all he's been through.'

"Harry, I promise you we will have our own tree every year. It will be our tradition." Ginny said placing her head on his chest.

"I am just so scared." Harry said in a weak voice.

"Scared of what?" Ginny asked not expecting this reaction from him.

"I am scared that I will lose you and…all this." Harry said waiving his hand around as if to encompass everything. "If I have learned one thing from my life it should be that when I have a good thing or something that makes me happy it's just a precursor to having that same damn thing ripped away. I don't want that to happen to us." He said looking down.

"Harry, look at me." Ginny said, gently tilting his head so she could look into his eyes. "I cannot guarantee I will be here forever. What I can promise you is, that as long as I'm alive, I will love you and never stop fighting for us." Ginny said, her eyes showing the ferocity of her love.

"Let me show you something." Ginny said as she stood up and walked to the tree. She plucked a silver and blue bow from the tree and sat back down by Harry.

She unfolded it until she had separated the two ribbons that made the bow.

She handed one of the ribbons to Harry.

"Here hold it like this." She said turning it lengthwise in his hand. "Try and unravel one of the strings that makes up the ribbon." Ginny said.

Harry picked at the long ribbon until he had easily unraveled one of the strings that made up the ribbon.

"Now try it like this." She said turning the ribbon sideways in his hand.

Harry could not find a way to unravel a string when looking at the side of the ribbon.

"We are like these ribbons." She explained looking at him. "Alone and separate we are pretty weak." She said unraveling a string from her ribbon for effect. "However, when all the different strings come together it becomes something quite sturdy." She continued. "And join two of those ribbons together," she said casting a spell to weave the ribbons back into the bow, "and something beautiful and lasting can be formed." She levitated the bow back to its spot on the tree.

"I am here to help you be strong when you need it, and to draw from you when I need it." Ginny said kissing him tenderly.

"I am being silly aren't I?" Harry smiled his lopsided smile.

"With what you've been through and the things you've done and had done to you I would be worried if you didn't have some issues we needed to work through." Ginny said. She patted his thigh and stood up. "Come on let's go eat before the curry gets too cold."

Harry stood quickly behind her, grabbed her shoulder and turned her back to him.

"I love you, Ginevra Weasley." Harry said kissing her deeply.

"I love you too." She replied, deepening the embrace.

They moved in unison to the bedroom.

The curry ended up needing to be reheated. Neither Ginny nor Harry seemed to care.


End file.
